Jocelyn

The end of week 2 is almost over. I wasn't looking forward to watching Jocelyn at first, not because I don't like kids, I love kids! It was going to take up a lot of my time that I just wasn't ready to give up yet. Jocelyn is 13 months old and a little cuddle bug. Her parents live out here on the ranch with us. Her dad works for Cody and her mom needs to finish school so I decided to help them out. This week was way better than last week. She cries all the time. She cries when you put her down, walk away from her, lay her down for naps and not lay down with her, lay her on the bed and not on your chest, cry, cry, cry as long as your not holding her! She is also the easiest child to console. As long as she is cuddled up in your arms, she is good to go. I think children need their alone time just like adults. I think they need to learn to play by themselves and just be comfortable with being left alone for 5 seconds without screaming at the top of their lungs. Well I do know Jocelyn's mom and dad run to her everytime she cries, so she gets it honest. She knows if she cries, someone will come a running! Not me! Last week was pretty tough getting used to each other and the fact that little Jocelyn has never, I mean never been away from her parents was tough on her. The first day her dad dropped her off at 8:00, she cried for an hour straight, I would try to lay her down and she would cry harder and just cling to me. She finally cried herself to sleep on my chest, I gently layed her down on my bed, and layed down with her. I tried to get up at one point and she started screaming, I layed back down, she fell back asleep, I tried to get up again, she screamed bloody murder, I layed back down, she fell asleep! She slept till 12, woke up for lunch, cried for another 30 minutes, fell asleep till 3:45 when her mom picked her up. The next day was a little better on how long she cried when her dad dropped her off. Well this week has been great actually! She gets here at 8:00, goes back to sleep till 12, eats lunch, plays (while sitting on my lap) takes a bottle of milk at 2:00 and sleeps till 3:45 when her mom picks her up! Easiest child ever, except she doesn't like to be left alone! The crying would be really hard on me if she wasn't that easy to console, but after she stops crying, she just cuddles you up! Well you can't hold a child for ever so we worked on that this week. Her mother also informed me that she can't walk, O' yes she can! Infact she can run!


On Monday I decided I needed to do other things around the house besides carry her around constantly or lay down with her constantly while she is napping. So I gradually weaned her off me! :) After about 2 minutes of prying her out of my arms and making her stand straight, (as she is screaming) I back up and she takes off to me like she can't get to me fast enough! She makes it about 15 steps before she falls and I catch her in my arms, and the only reason she fell was because she was sprinting to me! I pick her up and she stopped crying! We did it several times (while she is screaming) but she can sooooo walk! I am sure everytime her parents put her down, she screams so they just pick her back up and they have never made her walk. By yesterday I was able to set her on the floor while I cooked lunch and she played all by herself for about 20 minutes before she would start screaming. Today, she didn't take a nap this afternoon so she was up when it was time to bottle feed the deer. I usually let the deer out of their pen in the afternoon, feed them, then they have free range in the house and usually find a place behind a door or curtain and lay there all day. Well today, Jocelyn was interested in them and they were interested in her! I was able to sit her on the floor for an hour! A whole hour before she started screaming! The only reason she cried this afternoon was because she was tired and that was fine.

I got soooo much done in that hour of her playing! Also, usually in the morning I have to pry her out of her dad's hands, except this morning she actually reached for me! Whoop Whoop! This is the best child ever! She sleeps till 12 and she is the sweetest thing ever, even though she cries way to much we are working on that!


Jocelyn is also expecting a baby brother next month, so I will have my hands full with both. So maybe by the time he comes, she will be walking normal, not sprinting the 100 meter, and not crying when I set her down to play!


I also realized this week you can't really plan for a baby. When are you ever really ready for a baby anyway? Somedays I feel ready and someday's I don't. I also think, no we can't have one this time because of this and not here because of this and not here because of this and O' wait we can't here because then the little rascal will be born on opening day of deer season and we all know that is a big No No! :) So I realized it's never a good time! You just have to roll with the punches, if it happens, it happens, if it don't, it don't and just stop trying to plan it because it's not in your hands anyways. When the little one finally gets here, your automatically a parent and you will be ready then.


Karen